Editor’s Note: In cancer prevention and treatment, integrative medicine is not merely a technical convergence but a human-centered medical philosophy. It breaks traditional disciplinary boundaries and weaves prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation into a unified whole — enabling more patients to achieve high-quality “survival with tumors.”
Integrative medicine is rapidly moving from concept to clinical practice and has become a key pathway for improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Its implementation requires the deep fusion of technology and humanities, with multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment (MDT) serving as the operational core. Modern oncology has evolved beyond surgery or chemotherapy alone, embracing individualized, integrative strategies that include nutritional support, exercise rehabilitation, and psychological interventions.
Echoing the CACA guidelines’ full-chain management model — “prevention–screening–diagnosis–treatment–rehabilitation” — the future of cancer care depends on multidisciplinary collaboration and a shift from “treating disease” to “healing people.”
Oncology Frontier invited Professor Chen Xiaobing — Executive Council Member of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Deputy Director of CACA’s Science Popularization Department, Chair of the Esophageal Cancer Integrative Rehabilitation Committee, and Professor of Medical Oncology at Henan Cancer Hospital — to offer a comprehensive interpretation of the concept “Winning in Integration.”
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Oncology Frontier: While “prevention is better than treatment” is widely advocated, public compliance with cancer screening remains suboptimal. In your view, what more needs to be done?
Professor Chen Xiaobing:
Although “prevention is better than treatment” has become a public health consensus, improving public participation in early cancer screening still faces a core challenge: the traditional linear cognition model — “know → believe → act” — is difficult to break.
Widespread misconceptions remain major obstacles. Many people believe cancer cannot be prevented or attribute it solely to luck. Equating cancer with a “death sentence” undermines motivation for proactive screening.
To address this, we must transform the cognitive pathway from “know → believe → act” to “believe → learn → act.”
Laozi’s philosophy — “Begin with belief, deepen through knowledge, realize through action” — provides a clear framework. Only when individuals first believe that cancer is preventable and controllable will they be willing to learn and eventually act.
Data from China’s National Cancer Center show that over 40% of cancers can be prevented by modifying risk factors across four major categories and 23 carcinogenic determinants:
- Behavioral factors: smoking, second-hand smoke, alcohol, physical inactivity
- Metabolic factors: obesity, diabetes
- Environmental factors: UV exposure, air pollution
- Infectious factors: HPV, HBV, etc.
These modifiable risks offer clear intervention pathways to reduce cancer incidence at the source.
Moving forward, public health efforts must focus on correcting cognitive biases through systematic science education. The Chinese Anti-Cancer Association will continue working toward transforming “cancer prevention knowledge” into active participation in screening — achieving the true goal of “prevention first.”
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Oncology Frontier: “Medical humanities” is one of the highlights of this year’s CCHIO. How can we help patients and families maintain better quality of life while living with cancer?
Professor Chen Xiaobing:
The ultimate goal of cancer care is not only to extend survival but to improve quality of life. This year’s emphasis on medical humanities underscores a core principle: “There is no technology without humanity, and no humanity without technology.”
During the “Academicians Meet Patients” session, three academicians held in-depth dialogues with three cancer survivors. Survivors shared their personal journeys, while academicians extracted common patterns from a medical perspective: cancer rehabilitation must be integrative, precise, and human-centered — this is the essence of “humanistic strength.”
This exchange shaped a rehabilitation concept centered on “Cancer control and life restoration.” Humanistic care thus becomes an actionable tool integrated into the “science popularization–rehabilitation” model, shifting oncology from a disease-centered paradigm to a patient-centered one.
This transformation:
- alleviates psychological distress,
- redefines treatment evaluation to include both survival duration and quality of life,
- ensures treatment decisions reflect both medical feasibility and patient preference.
Humanities is not an abstract ideal — it is enacted through survivor narratives, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and clinical empathy. It gives technology warmth and gives patients hope, promoting a transition from “killing the tumor” to a balanced approach of tumor control and patient benefit.
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Oncology Frontier: Under integrative medicine, how is the “patient-centered” philosophy concretely reflected in MDT (multidisciplinary care)?
Professor Chen Xiaobing:
At the heart of integrative medicine is the shift from “disease-centered” to “patient-centered” care — recognizing cancer as a disease of the person, not merely of the organ.
In MDT practice, this principle transforms into a single guiding standard: Every clinical decision must maximize patient benefit. This includes extending life, improving well-being, and preserving physical and psychological function.
In practice, this is achieved through multidisciplinary collaboration and whole-person intervention.
CACA guidelines now incorporate not only surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, but also:
- nutritional therapy,
- exercise rehabilitation,
- psychological support,
- music therapy, and other non-pharmacologic measures.
Once considered “adjunctive,” these lifestyle interventions now have evidence-based therapeutic value:
- Exercise can reshape the tumor microenvironment and inhibit metastasis.
- Adequate nutrition improves treatment tolerance.
- Positive mental states enhance immune function via neuroendocrine pathways.
These integrative measures materialize the concept that “cancer prevention and treatment rely on integration — rehabilitation succeeds through integration.”
A patient-centered integrative framework must span the entire continuum: diagnosis → treatment → rehabilitation from first outpatient visit to inpatient care to survivorship follow-up.
By comprehensively assessing physical, psychological, and social needs and combining multi-specialty expertise, MDT enables a leap from “treating disease” to “healing the person.”
Professor Chen Xiaobing
